Kake
Kake is located on the northwest coast of
Kupreanof Island along Keku Strait, 38 air miles northwest of
Petersburg, and 95 air miles south of Juneau. It lies at approximately
56° 58' N Latitude, 133° 56' W Longitude (Sec. 34, T056S, R072E, Copper
River Meridian). The community is located in the Petersburg Recording
District. The area encompasses 8 sq. miles of land and 6 sq. miles of
water.
The
Kake tribe of the Tlingits were the most feared by white settlers in the
18th and 19th centuries. They frightened Captain Vancouver during his
voyages and sometimes "terrorized" trappers. In 1869, the Kakes killed
two Sitka traders in revenge for the shooting of a Native by a Sitka
sentry. This act began the so-called "Kake War." During successive
reprisals by the Navy vessel U.S.S. Saginaw, three Kake villages were
destroyed. The Kakes did not rebuild for many years, but finally settled
around 1890 at their present site. In 1891, a government school and
store were built. A Society of Friends mission also was established. A
post office was established in 1904. In 1912 the first cannery was built
near Kake, and was purchased by the village in the late 1940s. In the
late 1940s timber harvesting and processing began at a local sawmill.
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